In 2009, the Royal Society of Chemistry signed a cooperation agreement with the State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA), a division of the Chinese Government. As part of a wider governmental initiative to enhance the global impact of Chinese science and China’s higher education institutions, the RSC and SAFEA provide funding for a Visiting Researchers Programme. This encourages academics from the UK to visit Chinese universities to share best practice, advise Chinese researchers on presenting their research to an international audience and to stimulate collaboration between UK and Chinese institutions.
 
This blog provides a space for participants to share their experiences and for the RSC to highlight the opportunities that stem from the SAFEA programme.

*The map is reproduced from the United Nations Statistics Division
 

Starting a career in academia after serving in industry: Diary of Brian Cox in China

Brian Cox, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, visited Fudan University in Shanghai in October 2015 as part of the 2015 SAFEA-RSC visiting researchers programme. He also had the opportunity to visit Roche Innovation Center Shanghai and attended the 3rd Roche and RSC Chemistry symposium on leading science for drug discovery. A news story was also published on the Fudan University webpage.


Brian Cox discusses bicameral leadership and College of Pharmacy student exchange matters


October 20-26, 2015
 
I entered academia in November 2014 following 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry
following the closure of the Novartis research facility in the UK.  What was imperative to me was to quickly build a network of potential collaborators interested in the same areas of research as myself and my group with a view to building joint research proposals and to foster scientific exchange.  I was very fortunate to see an article in RSC NEWS by Dr Kathleen Too highlighting the Royal Society of Chemistry and the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (SAFEA, a division of the Chinese Government) “Visiting Researchers to China Programme”. As part of a wider governmental initiative to enhance the global impact of Chinese science and China's higher education institutions, the RSC and SAFEA provide funds for a visiting researchers programme. This encourages academics from the UK to visit Chinese universities to share best practice, advise Chinese researchers on presenting their research to an international audience and to stimulate collaboration between UK and Chinese institutions. I responded to the article and wrote a justification for support; in the proposal I outlined why I would like to visit China, which universities and researchers I would like to visit and the mutual benefits that could be expected. My request was to visit Professor Yonghui Wang in the Pharmacy Department of the University of Fudan, Shanghai. He also has spent many years in the pharmaceutical industry, but has now successfully established himself as an academic working in drug discovery.

I was very pleased to find out that my application had been successful and I started to plan the trip to Shanghai. After some email exchanges on options we agreed on 20-26th October for the visit, this would also allow me to attend the 3rd Roche and RSC chemistry Symposium on Leading Science for Drug Discovery at the Roche Training centre there in Shanghai which was a two day conference on the 24-25 October.

Tuesday 20th October 2015

Arrived in Shanghai Pu Dong airport and was met by my host Professor Yonghui Wang and his assistant Ms Ting Tang. Later on this day I was invited to give a talk at the Roche research site by Dr Hong Shen the Head of Chemistry in China and co-organiser of the coming weekend’s chemistry symposium. I met with the Roche researchers and gave a talk describing challenges and solutions encountered on projects from my career in industry. It was great to make new contacts and to connect with the Roche organisation.

Wednesday 21st October 2015

On Wednesday I was introduced to faculty members from Pharmacy, Chemistry and the Center for Drug Discovery and Development for a great discussion of our backgrounds and research interests looking for potential research collaboration, many ideas have come from this meeting.
In the afternoon I gave a lecture to 50+ graduate students focussing on the evolution of drug discovery in the last ten years along with the current challenges and potential solutions. This was well received and provoked questions and discussion.

Thursday 22nd October 2015

The following day I gave the drug discovery talk given at Roche to the faculty describing challenges and solutions encountered on projects from my career in industry, this also provoked lively discussion and questions.

Finally I was able to meet with Profs Ming-Wei Wang (Dean) and Aijun Hou, (Vice Dean) of the School of Pharmacy to discuss potential student exchange between the School of Life Sciences at University of Sussex and School of pharmacy at Fudan University, this was a very fruitful discussion.

Friday 23rd October 2015

With the prospect of a full weekend of conference I was able to take part of Friday to visit the Bund and adjoining districts with my wonderful hosts Yonghui and Ting. A particular highlight was tasting the enormous varieties of tea in a little tea shop in the area. Along with Kathleen I spent the evening with the Royal Society of Chemistry’s team in China Dr Amy Lam, Mandy Ma and Justin Xu. They were able to tell me about the work the RSC team is doing in China, which is very impressive.

Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th October 2015

I attended the 3rd Roche and RSC chemistry Symposium on Leading Science for Drug Discovery at the Roche Training centre. The symposium was opened by Dr Alex Mayweg (Global Head of Medicinal Chemistry for Roche) and Dr Hong Shen (Head of Medicinal Chemistry Roche Shanghai). The agenda brought together a number of excellent plenary lectures, talks and flash talks (10 minutes) from PhD students. I was very impressed by the work the students had achieved in their PhD studies. I must complement Alex and Hong and the Roche organisation along with the Royal Society of Chemistry for their vision in creating and continuing to support this symposium.


From left to right (back row): Brian Cox, Paul Wender, Henrik Oreum, Jeffrey Bode, Andrew Thomas, Alex Mayweg, Ang Li, Zhengying Pan, Chris Meier, Keiji Maruoka
From left to right (front row): Hong Shen, Veronique Gouverneur, Yoshiaki Isshiki

Monday 26th October 2015

After a highly successful and enjoyable stay in Shanghai, Yonghui said goodbye to me off at the airport. It is my sincere hope that Yonghui will be able to make a reciprocal visit to the Sussex University next year, hopefully to coincide with the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry meeting in Manchester in August.

In conclusion the opportunity to visit Fudan Univesrity and attend the Roche Symposium was truly excellent, it exceeded my expectations in relation to the goals for the visit. 




 
Posted by Kathleen Too on Nov 18, 2015 2:33 PM Europe/London

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